Pope Francis died recently. His legacy will be debated for years. I want to focus on his hatred of capitalism and how Catholic Christians should respond.
It has been widely reported that the Pope called capitalism the "dung of the devil." That's not exactly what he said. Here is the section of a speech in which he used the phrase:
"The earth, entire peoples and individual persons are being brutally punished. And behind all this pain, death and destruction there is the stench of what Basil of Caesarea called “the dung of the devil.” An unfettered pursuit of money rules. The service of the common good is left behind. Once capital becomes an idol and guides people’s decisions, once greed for money presides over the entire socioeconomic system, it ruins society, it condemns and enslaves men and women, it destroys human fraternity, it sets people against one another and, as we clearly see, it even puts at risk our common home."
